NFL Announces Plans for First Regular-Season Game in Australia

Ryan Phillips | Feb 5, 2025

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell looks on during a press conference ahead of Super Bowl LIX. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The NFL will further broaden its international footprint in 2026, adding another location to its list of countries that have hosted regular-season games.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced Wednesday the league will play a regular-season game in Melbourne, Australia in 2026. That would make the land down under the sixth country outside the United States to host an NFL game.

Previously, regular-season games have been held in England, Mexico, Germany, Canada and Brazil, which became the fifth country to host a game in 2024.

The NFL announced it will be a multiyear agreement and that the Los Angeles Rams are expected to be one of the teams in the first game.

"Expanding to Melbourne, Australia, a beautiful city with a rich sports history, underlines our ambitions to become a global sport and accelerate international growth," Goodell said in a statement. "Together with the Victorian State Government, Visit Victoria and the Melbourne Cricket Ground, and with the Los Angeles Rams in 2026, we look forward to making history in what is an important market for the NFL and a significant next step in expanding our international footprint."

One would assume another West Coast team will be joining the Rams down under. The flight from Los Angeles to Melbourne lasts somewhere between 15 to 16 hours. The trip would, in all likelihood, be followed by a bye week.

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